Our Inner Demons
by Lucky9221
Summary: Ben is turned into a beast, like his father, and the only way to reverse the curse is... If ya wanna know you should read the story:)
1. Chapter 1

**Hi guys! Thank you for clicking on this little story of mine. Be warned updates are slow, sorry bout that. So anyway, this story was started before Descendents 2 came out if you hadn't noticed so…. That will make this interesting to figure out. I may be able to try to incorporate some of the topics from the new movie, but don't count on it.**

 **Love you guys for reading my story**

 **-Lucky:)**

 **Also, I love reviews, who doesn't? But anyways please leave 'em on any chapter, maybe it'll motivate me to write faster.**

* * *

Maleficent looked into her crystal ball at the end of her staff in disgust. Her daughter, the future Maleficent, was surrounded by the three, good, children of her past allies and the king of Auradon, and some random Dwarf. When she sent Mal away to Auardon to steal the wand for her she wasn't expecting her daughter to turn on her and have her turned into a puny lizard. Good thing no spell could hold Maleficent captive while she had her magic.

When the time was right Maleficent would make that little prince and her daughter's little friends pay for turning her daughter good. She just had to decide how.

* * *

Ben, Doug and the Villain Kids were studying for finals in the cafeteria. Ben kept trying to get closer to Mal but she kept moving away from him. Evie and Doug were sitting very close to each other talking about the chemistry final. Jay and Carlos were just sitting on opposite ends of the square table laughing at Ben trying to sit close to Mal, and making jokes about Evie and Doug's "nerd language of flirting".

After a few hours of attempted studying, Jay doesn't study because he really doesn't care about school, the girls said goodbye to the guys and headed to their room. Jay and Carlos left shortly after since it was getting awkward listening to them babble on about their adopted sisters. Since it was only Ben and Doug left they started talking about their relationships more in depth.

"So have you asked Evie out on a date yet?" Ben asked.

"No Ben whenever I get close enough to do I panic and do not do it. How did you do it?"

"It is kind of helpful when you are under a love spell and you can't control your actions. But I do recommend being open with her and telling her that you like her."

"Thanks, Ben. It's getting late we should probably head back to our rooms."

"See you later Doug."

"Bye Ben."

Ben headed to his room and started to wonder if he will ever go anywhere in his relationship with Mal. He knew that he loved her and would be very patient with her, but did she love him? It had been about four months since the coronation and she still had not kissed him. They had been on multiple dates and he didn't want to rush her, but was she still sorting out her feelings?

* * *

Mal was lying in her bed thinking about what she normally thought about at night, whether or not she actually felt love towards Ben. She knew in her heart that she did but she was always afraid her mother would come back and hurt him if she showed any affection towards him. Her mother always thought Mal didn't need or should receive love since love was a weakness, to her mother.

* * *

Maleficent finally knew how to make her daughter and friends pay for turning Mal good. She quickly grabbed a spell book off the shelf of her lair. The book was white with gold accent swirls all across it. Maleficent quickly opened to the page that she had marked in it when she stole it from the owner. When she found it she quickly started to memorize it and tweaking it. She determined that earning another's love was too simple and clique for the prince.

She decided to make the curse a bit harder to break. To break it Mal had to join her and take over the kingdom and earn her full name of Maleficent.

Within seconds of changing the spell and memorizing it, Maleficent was gone. She appeared in Ben's dorm room where he was peacefully asleep.

"Turn this prince from man to beast,

Only until his love's destiny is decided,

towards the path set for her ages before this day,

his form will revert to a man from beast"

Maleficent said, casting the spell. A purple light bathed the prince and his hands turned to paws, his legs turned to haunches, and he turned into a beast.

Maleficent was clearly proud of how well the cursed worked. She flicked her wrist and cast a spell that would make him stay asleep until the morning.


	2. Chapter 2

Mal woke up that morning and got ready for class. Evie was already up and out of bed by the time she woke up as usual. Mal got ready for class and then left to be on time, she also knew she wasn't a morning person and if she stayed near her bed should would just back into it and go back to sleep.

On her way to her first class, she noticed Jane looked like she couldn't keep still so she approached her.

"Hey, Jane."

"Hi, Mal." She said still looking down at her phone.

"What's up. You can't keep still and have been looking at your phone the whole time I've talked to you. So spill."

"Carlos asked me out on a date last night."

"That's great Jane. But why are you looking at your phone so often?"

"He said he'd send me the movie ticket he got for me to my phone and it still hasn't come. What if he changed his mind? What if he's sending it to a different girl."

"Whoa, Jane. Calm down. Carlos could have forgotten to send it to you."

"But he's got five minutes to send it before the first-hour bell."

"Did he specify what time he would send it to you."

"No."

"Well, then it is nothing to worry about."

"Ok. Thank you, Mal."

Suddenly the school bell rang catching Mal completely off guard. She was usually late to class because she overslept.

"Oh, gods that's the tardy bell. I have to get to class Mr. Brown will kill me for being late again."

"Bye Mal," Jane said heading over to the class she was supposed to be in.

"Bye Jane," Male said running towards her class.

* * *

After Mal's class, she headed over to the spot she and Ben normally met after class. When she arrived at the spot she noticed he wasn't there. Ben was always early no matter what. Mal got really worried and started walking back to dorms. When she got to Ben's dorm she knocked. Ben didn't answer immediately like he normally did when he was in his dorm. She heard a groan and the sound of sheets moving.

She knocked again and nothing happened. Eventually, she got really nervous and blew down the door with her magic. She entered the room and saw the bed unmade and the bathroom closed. Ben never left his bed unmade unless he just got up, he was kind of a neat freak in that way. Ben also never kept the door in the bathroom closed unless someone was in it.

"Ben are you here?" Mal called out.

She heard the sound of feet shifting.

"BENJAMIN FLORIAN are you in this room!"

"Yes, Mal."

"Then get your butt out here and talk to me."

"But I can't Mal."

"And why is that?"

"I..umm... am sick."

"Well if you're so sick you may need medical attention."

"Oh, I'm fine."

"Either you come out or I come in."

"Fine, I'll come out." He said sounding slightly nervous. The door opened and Ben came out of the room.

Mal just looked at him wide-eyed not wanting to scream. Ben looked at her and felt ashamed that he scared his girlfriend. She blinked several times thinking about what to say.

"Ben what happened to you. You um... look like your dad."

"I woke up a couple minutes ago and I looked like this."

"Oh, Ben we really have to go to Fairy Godmother she will tell you how to break the curse."

"I know but what if other students see me and run away screaming?"

"Don't worry about it Ben it is the middle of second-hour classes."

"Wait? Mal you are ditching class!?"

"Um yeah. It's to help you. I'm sure Fairy Godmother will understand."

"I really hope she would Mal."

"Stop worrying Ben."

"I can't stop worrying about my girlfriend." He swooped her up into his arms and kissed her.

"C'mon let's get going while the hallways still clear," Mal said the passion from the kiss still on her lips.


	3. Chapter 3

Sneaking a seven-foot-tall beast down a hallway of a school was harder than you think. Ben was not adjusted to his new size and he kept tripping on his paws. The hallway was also filled with many obstacles. The trip to Fairy Godmother's office also included a trip outside exposed to judging public.

Suddenly the sound of familiar clicking heels appeared behind them. "Mal…" Evie said, still all the way around the corner. Ben started shuffling and determined the solution was too hid under a table. He ended up making a huge mess. Evie came up to Mal not noticing the mess Ben made. "Mal, why are you ditching class?"

"I have to Evie."

"Well do you actually have a reason?" Evie caught Mal subtly looking out of the corner of her eye of something next to her. Evie turned and saw Ben under the table. She immediately screamed and had a panic attack.

"Great Ben, we have to get the spell of you and get Evie to the nurse's office." Evie had passed out from her panic attack. Ben carefully scooped Evie up in his arms and started walking towards Fairy Godmother's office.

"Ben the nurse's office is the other direction."

"I know Mal but the nurses always are in there, it's not like they won't notice if a student magically appeared."

When the approached the pathway to get to the offices and libraries they stopped and check if the pathway was clear. When they determined it was they ran to the other side of the pathway and opened the door. Fairy Godmother's office was right next to the entrance. The sounds of muffled voices came from the office.

"Fairy Godmother Ben hasn't come to classes yet and Mal never showed up for second-hour classes. What if something happened?"

"That is interesting. Ben has never missed class without telling me, even if he was sick."

Mal walked through the door of the office, slowly with Ben in tow. "Hi Fairy Godmother, hey Doug."

Doug looked at Ben completely unfazed by the beast but what he was holding. "Did you hurt Evie!?"

"No Doug let me explain she passed out."

"Oh hey, Ben," Doug said looking up at Ben.

"What how did you know it was Ben?" Mal asked wondering if the whole student body knew.

"Mal I'm a half dwarf. I know a cursed human from a regular animal. A normal beast definitely wouldn't be so calm."

Fairy Godmother looked at Ben and started to walk over to the bookshelf in her office. She pulled out a white and gold book and opened it. "Mal, Doug could you please take Evie to the nurse's office and give them this sheet." She pulled a scarlet red slip off a pad. Mal and Doug left the room balancing Evie's weight between them.

"Alright, Ben let's take a look." She pulled out her magic wand and a blue glow covered Ben. "Just as I expected."

"What Fairy Godmother."

"You are under a curse similar to your father's but the cure is a little harder to attain."

"Wait so the solution isn't having someone fall in love with you?"

"Ben if that was the curse you wouldn't have even transformed. The cure involves Mal taking a dark path, the one her mother intended for her."

"How did this curse happen?"

"Maleficent cast it. The magic used is much darker than the Enchantress's."

"Won't the Enchantress be able to help?"

"Ben with all the fairies in the land we won't have enough magic to cure you. The only solution is Mal becoming the next Maleficent."


	4. Chapter 4

"WHAT!" Ben exclaimed. He loved Mal with all his heart he couldn't stand the thought of her becoming Maleficent. He had thought taking her and the other villain kids off of The Isle of the Lost would allow them to escape their destinies and start over. He didn't know that Mal's evil destiny would catch up to her.

"Ben, calm down. Good thing you didn't break anything."

"What do you mean?"

"Ben, your emotions are a bit more sensitive in this form. Whenever you feel the slightest bit of one emotion you show the full force of that emotion."

Ben tried his hardest to calm himself down. Fairy Godmother watched him as he did it noticing he didn't really know what to do. For as long as Fairy Godmother could remember Ben was always very level-headed. She knew she was going to have to find something to help him with his emotions until they all figure out a solution to the problem at hand, the big furry problem.

"I'm going to call your parents Ben while you try to calm down." Fairy Godmother picked up her office landline and called King Beast and Belle.

"Hello, Belle" Fairy Godmother said into the phone. "There's been a development at school involving Ben." She paused for a minute. "No, No, Nothing bad Belle it just he... um... Has been cursed." She moved the phone away from her ear to prevent any damage from the angry mother screams. Ben looked at her holding the phone arm's length away and then realized why when he heard his mother's angry screams, which mostly involved screaming profanities at Mal, which of course caused him to be a little bit angry which caused him to start wanting to destroy things. Fairy godmother saw this and brought the phone near her again and covered the mouthpiece.

"Inhale." When she saw Ben do just as she asked she then said, "exhale. Ben keep doing that until I get off the phone. Ok?" Ben nodded.

Once the screaming stopped Fairy Godmother brought the phone close to her ear, "No Belle, Mal didn't curse him, Maleficent did." She paused again. "See you in a few minutes, Belle."

"They'll both be here in a few minutes. Until then let's find something to help with your mood." Fairy Godmother went to shelves behind her desk and pulled out a spell book with something she knew would help with Ben's mood intensity. She opened up to the dog-eared marked page and grabbed the ingredients from her office supply of ingredients for enchantments and small magic, who said she couldn't have times for hobbies after her days with the wand finished, but in reality it was more like an at-home remedy that she had made a lot for some of her pregnancy mood swings, it still required ingredients she kept in her magic supplies.

The Fairy Godmother grabbed the ingredients and put them all in a bowl and mixed them together creating a clear tasteless liquid. She emptied the contents of the bowl into a glass and handed it to Ben. "Drink up Ben, don't worry it's tasteless."

Ben had some less than loving memories of at home remedies Fairy Godmother liked to mix up. Like once when he had the flu she gave him a blue liquid that tasted like probably one of the closest things to how he felt, and he felt absolutely horrible. Ben pushed back the fear that it will actually make him feel horrible and not help him at all he gulped down the liquid. After he finished the liquid he felt more emotionally stable, like how he felt before this whole fiasco began, and he was human Ben.

* * *

Evie woke up in the nurse's with a concerned Doug and Mal looking at her from two chairs along the wall near the door, she could also hear the nurse typing loudly at her desk. She really didn't know why she was in the nurse's office. When she tried to sit up she felt a little dizzy and realized she had fainted, which had happened once on the Island a story for another time.

"Evie, do you remember what happened?" Doug asked.

Evie started thinking about what had happened before she fainted. She remembered waiting with Doug for Mal and Ben before 3rd-hour class started and how she was late, even though they met at her locker. And then how she and Doug started looking for them since they had heard from Lonnie neither of them showed up for second-hour classes. Evie also remembered seeing Mal after looking for her and talking to her about ditching class and then seeing a beast. Remembering the beast made her heart skip a few beats since of course, she was scared. She stuttered out in a faint whisper, "I saw a, a monster."

"Evie, that was Ben," Mal said hoping Evie wouldn't pass out again. The only thing that happened was that she saw Evie's eyes went from surprised to something that looked like amusement. She started giggling like a little girl.

"At least he was, you know, wearing clothes. Where on campus would you find clothes big enough for him in this form." Doug looked at Mal, he had no clue why Evie would find anything like this funny.

Mal leaned over towards him and whispered into his ear, "This is why she doesn't like surprises, she either faints or starts giggling. It always annoys Jay to death when she giggles. Especially when the snorting sound starts."

Doug looked really surprised when Mall told him Evie makes a snorting sound when she giggles. "She makes a snorting sound?!"

"Mal I thought you wouldn't tell him." Evie started blushing furiously since she was super embarrassed.

"I think its cute Evie," Doug said smiling at her.

"Well since Sleeping Beauty over here has finally woken up I'm going to go check up on Ben. See you two later."


	5. Chapter 5

The moment both Ben and Fairy Godmother had both dreaded since Fairy Godmother first called Belle had arrived. Fairy Godmother's office was towards the main entrance of the Auradon Prep Campus and she could see any cars entering and exiting the campus main gates. So when she saw a limousine with the Auradon flags she knew it was Belle. "Alright Ben, stay calm. Don't do anything brash." Fairy Godmother commanded as she straightened out the skirts of her dress preparing herself to answer the angry mother's questions about her son's predicament. She glances out the windows again and saw the Queen of Auradon exiting the car, a calm expression was on Belle's face and the Fairy Godmother knew she was extremely angry internally. In the few minutes, she had to prepare what she would say Belle entered the office. When Belle entered the office Fairy Godmother rose respectfully while Belle looked over at her son.

"How do you feel Ben?" Belle asked as she approached him making sure not to startle him.

"I'm fine," He said gazing down at his paws deep in thought about how to break the curse without hurting Mal.

"We are going home, Ben. Your, current," she paused not wanting to offend him, "form will cause a massive uproar from the students."

"I agree with your mother Ben. We can send you your school work so you can still graduate."

Ben exclaimed, "But what will you tell everyone? Mal, Evie, and Doug already know. And what about saving Mal? Since she is how we fix the curse." Belle looked curiously over at Fairy Godmother with this newfound knowledge. She had come to live the Villain's children as her own, even if her thoughts immediately went to Mal when she found out that Ben has been cursed since she was the only magic user in the school, other than Fairy Godmother.

"What do you mean she is the one to fix the curse, Ben?" Belle asked patiently.

"He means that Maleficent cursed him so that the only way it could be broken is if Mal goes down the dark path her mother wished for her to go down."

"What do suggest we do Fairy Godmother?" Belle asked, alarmed by the fact that the only way to save her son was to force his girlfriend to do the unthinkable.

"I have no idea at this point. I could summon an emergency meeting with all the fairies in Auradon and see if we can find a way."

Mal started her walk through massive hallways of Auradon Prep to Fairy Godmothers office. Since she is headmaster of the school she had an office towards the front of the building while the nurse's office, where Mal was currently outside of, was closer to the school dormitory. Mal started walking to the Courtyard so she could get to Fairy Godmother's office the fastest route possible. While she was walking she thought about why Ben would be cursed. Could it be because of her? It was it an age and family thing? She knew Ben was the most amazing, sweet and loyal person ever so she knew he wouldn't be cursed for the same reason his father was. So it brought her back to the question of it was because of her he got cursed. She only knew of a few fairies that curse him that way one of which being her mother. Her mother! She had forgotten that she was a factor now. Mal had sent her off to Fairy Godmother for safekeeping after she had started giving her horrible nightmares. She would need to ask if she had escaped.

With this new realization, Mal took off running towards the Headmistress' office. Once she arrived, after she ran through the expansive courtyard she paused to take a breath and politely knocked on the locked door, she had managed to get past the Fairy Godmother's secretary since said secretary was on break, probably off on a tea break or something like that.

After she knocked on the door a second time Fairy Godmother opened the door slightly so only a sliver of her face was revealed. After she saw it was Mal she said calmly and quietly, "Come in Mal." Fairy Godmother opened the door just enough so that Mal could shimmy through.

Mal glanced across the small office and saw Belle and Ben sitting in the two chairs, well she really saw Belle comfortably sitting and Ben trying a way to be comfortable in the small chair without destroying it. "Am I interrupting Fairy Godmother?" Mal asked.

"Of course not dear," Belle responded to the question directed at the Headmistress. "This matter involves you as much as it involves Ben."

"About the matter, Fairy Godmother I think my mother escaped her prison."

"Yes, I think that helps explain our current theory on Ben's curse. Let me check the secure location we have attempted to keep her until we could organize a transport for her to be placed back on the Isle. Belle, dear, could you fill Mal in on our theory of Ben's curse."

"Of course I can," Belle said rising as Fairy Godmother hurried out of her office. Belle pulled Mal into a hug wishing she didn't have to tell the girls she had become so close to about her horrible fate.


	6. Chapter 6

After hearing of her fate from Belle, who was almost in tears the whole time, Mal ran out of the room avoiding her boyfriend who was clearly upset as well. Ben was about to get up to go after her when his mother stopped him, "She needs to process for a bit, wait for a few minutes."

"Ok," he said wishing he could go calm his girlfriend down.

Ben had waited until the next class to start so he would completely alone with his girlfriend, and not accidentally scare another student, he made a mental note to make sure Evie was ok later. He walked out to the quiet courtyard Mal was in. He saw her pacing and sneaked up so that she wouldn't run away again. When he reached the trunk of the tree Mal was pacing around he tried to be quiet but ended up falling on his butt.

"Who is there!" Mal exclaimed startled, slowly walking around the tree, still on edge from the news about Ben's curse. When she saw Ben trying to stand up, after what she presumed caused the large thump, she started laughing. Ben, who was still adjusting to his larger and more clumsy form, kept trying to stand up but falling back.

"Malllllllllllllllllllllllllll, please help me!" Seeing that his girlfriend had started laughing at his situation and appearing to stop thinking about the serious situation at hand he tried to continue letting her laugh at him and be distracted. After she finally stopped laughing she tried to help him up, resulting in her falling on the ground as well. "I love you Mal," he said, hoping to get some sort of reply.

"Ben, I," she tried to figure out what to say and then decided what she should do. "Ben I'm going to find Maleficent."

"What!" Ben said, almost roaring. He didn't want her to leave, especially so that she could save him and suffer a fate worse than his. "We can fix this without you becoming the Maleficent. Please just stay Mal. I can even work with my Dad to get my temper under control. Just don't leave."

"Ben, you know I don't belong here anyway."

* * *

Fairy Godmother had just entered the short notice meeting of the Fairy Council. She glanced around and saw Flora, Fauna, Merryweather, and the Blue Fairy. She knew some of the other Fairies had other duties to attend to so she started the meeting. "We have a situation with his Royal Highness King Ben. He has been recently cursed in a similar fashion that his father had been."

"Was it the Enchantress again?"

"No it was not, it was Maleficent and she has changed the cure of the curse so that his girlfriend, Maleficent's daughter, has to become the next Maleficent." Fairy Godmother calmly explained.

"Do you know if the spell came from similar origins as former King Adam?"

"I believe that Maleficent had stolen The Enchantress' spell book and had modified the original spell. If any of you are in contact with The Enchantress still we may be able to gain more insight into the workings and modifications of the spell."

The Blue Fairy spoke, "I am still in contact with her I can see what I can do."

"Thank you." The Blue Fairy left in a puff of blue after waving her wand.

* * *

"Mal, what do you mean you don't belong here," Ben said putting her hands on his rather large paws and then wrapped his paws around her small hands, "I love you. And your friends care about you."

"But, all these girls are perfect princesses and I'm well me."

"And I love you." He pleaded trying to make her stay.

"I know and that's exactly why you've been cursed. And why I have to go to my mother and break your curse." She said slowly removing her hand from his paw.

"Let me come with you."

"I'm sorry Ben I can't. You have your royal duties. And do you even want to fight my mother, the most powerful villain? You'll be hurt in the first five minutes of the battle, and I won't be able to live with myself." And after she finished speaking she started to retreat back to her dorm room so that she pack so she can start finding her mother so that she will be able to save Ben. She could hear what she assumed was Ben's roars as she was running to her room.

She unlocked the door to her room and grabbed her backpack from the hook next to the door, that Evie has surprisingly installed herself. She opened and dumped out all of the school supplies in it out on her desk, she then walked over to her dresser and grabbed some spare outfits. After she finished packing some food and water in her bag as well she started her cell phone in her hand wondering whether or not to take it. As she decided to take it, and she shoved it in her bag, she heard a knocking from outside her door.

"Mal open up, can we at least talk about it before you leave?" Ben asked her from behind the thick oak door. Taking Ben's arrival as her cue to leave she whispered a transportation spell and left without a trace.

As Ben opened the door, he now has to replace a door he saw no trace of his girlfriend. As he panicked Evie stood in the doorway. "Uhhhhh, what's going Ben, other than ya know being 7 foot tall and very furry."

"Evie, be nice," Doug said, scolding his girlfriend for having no filter whatsoever

"Mal left," Ben said still panicking.

"Wait, what?" Evie asked shocked.

"The only way to break the curse is if Mal becomes the next Maleficent. And she already left to find her!"

"Oh dang! Ben this is really bad, we have to get the boys and search for her."

"Ok Evie, I'll call Fairy Godmother and get her to excuse us from classes." Doug volunteered.

"That's a good idea, we have to keep the people that know of Ben's situation at a minimum," Evie stated. "I'll go get the boys, Ben stay here."


	7. Chapter 7

**Sup guys. So I know I haven't updated in like a year so…. I guess this is overdue. I kinda get lazy.**

Evie, along with the boys and Ben and Doug, of course, started to devise a plan. It took a few minutes to convince Carlos and Jay that Ben was in fact inside the beast's body, and then it became fascinating to Jay. Jay, of course, wanted to use Ben's new form for a tactical advantage during tourney matches. Ben had to spend several minutes explaining how it would be a bad idea, especially since it could possibly injure himself and his team. Jay still wouldn't let it drop but decided to be quiet so they could focus on the more pressing matter, which was Mal's stupid self-sacrifice idea, and how to stop it.

"Well if we were Maleficent we're would we make a magical fortress in Auradon?" Evie asked trying to figure out the puzzle of where they should start.

"The darkest corner of Auardon or not even in it," Jay said sarcastically thinking his friends would have thought of that at this point.

The group looked at Jay with wonder. "How could we not have thought of that!" Carlos exclaimed getting frustrated.

"Whelp, it's super easy, you just have to use that massive mind of yours." He elbowed Carlos, showing he was only teasing him.

"Well, I know she can't go back to her old fortress," Ben stated.

"Why?" Asked Carlos.

"It was turned into a museum of its own during the formation of Auradon. I can a list of castles and dark foreboding forests in Auardon for Fairy Godmother and we can use that to help with the search."

"Okay, Doug. The boys and will start planning what we need to do to stop Mal from making a stupid decision that'll bring the end of Auardon."

"K, Love ya, babe." As Doug walked out the door Carlos and Jay were making kissing faces and noises to mock her.

"You two seriously need to grow up sometimes."

"Can we get back on focus?" Ben asked.

"Sure," Evie said, she silently kicked both Jay and Carlos's shins.

"Ow," Both boys whined.

"Ok then, so when we find Mal what should we do?" Ben asked aloud.

"Well she's super stubborn" Jay pointed out, hoping for the praise he got the last time he pointed out the obvious.

"Wow, who would've thought." Said Evie, with excess sarcasm.

"Oh, my god how do you guys accomplish anything?" Ben said getting frustrated.

"I have no idea," Evie said agreeing.

"It was Mal." Carlos pointed out, "She made sure we didn't get off topic like usual."

"That makes so much sense," Ben said as he slowly began to give up. Then like clockwork Doug burst open the door the girl's dorm room.

"I've got the maps!" He exclaimed. He then walked to the small table the group was seated around and rolled the maps out so everyone could see. "Fairy Godmother also gave me a list of recent sightings of 'extreme dark energy' so I think we can use those to help narrow down the search."

"Great thanks, Doug," Evie said. When Doug sat down she gave him a kiss to show her thanks as well.

"Alright, guys let's narrow down all these options!" Ben exclaimed and the group started the tedious task. Several hours passed and the group still was working.

"I think I found," Doug stated, "It has to be in the Witchmoss Forest, towards the northern border of Auardon."

"Okay guys, let's go check it out," Evie said after thinking for a brief moment.

The group started packing small packs for themselves with some spare clothing for each traveler, the maps, a compass, some water bottles, and plenty of snacks and food. Carlos also made sure to grab enough stuff for Dude, since he would not be traveling without his new companion.

* * *

Mal hated walking. Especially since she had no idea where she was going. She was trying to sense where her mother's hideout could possibly be. She even exclaimed a few times, "I'LL BE YOUR LITTLE HEIR TO EVIL AND NONSENSE IF YOU TELL ME WHERE YOU ACTUALLY ARE!" It didn't help it just made her want to cry. She was promised a life without doing stupid evil things but her mother just had to go and escape. She was finally starting to settle down and let her guard down enough to truly love Ben and here she was sacrificing herself for the greater good of the world.

She just kept wandering around at least she was in the area she thought her mother would be in. It was a dark and scary forest, even if it didn't scare Mal, it fit the memo. She moved around the forest carefully making sure not to alarm any natural wildlife because for all she knew the could be like bears or weird poisonous plants or something. She just knew she didn't want to deal with that stuff right now. She just wants to align herself to evil, she thought, shuddering, and attempt to help her friends from the inside.

In Maleficent's true fashion she appeared in front of her daughter in her trademark green smoke. "Hello dear!" She yelled startling Mal. 'This is it', Mal thought to herself.

"Hi, Mother."

"That's all I get, may I remind you that you are coming to me for help."

"I'm coming here so that you can take the curse of off Prince Ben!"

"Ohhhhh... So you do love the boy," Maleficent in mockingly caring tone. "Too bad I cursed him. I guess that you haven't really learned that love is weakness Mal!"

"Mother!" She exclaimed attempting to plead with her. "I may love him but I am willing to sacrifice myself to evil for him."

"I used to be like you young and full of hope, but Mal, love only hurts you that's why you need me. To protect you from the heartbreak. Do you really think that the Prince would really choose you in the long term? You are just the daughter of one of the most hated villains what could you possibly offer him. When did you think this silly thing of yours was going to end." Maleficent then proceeded to show Mal a vision, a vision of the manufactured future Maleficent had created for this image. It was an image of Ben happy and in love, but not with Mal. Instead of Mal, in her place Audrey. Mal shed a single tear looking at the image trying not to show her mother weakness.

"Mal, without love you'll never feel this heartbreak. To remove any possibility of heartbreak from your future just take my hand and we will rule together, my daughter."

Mal looked at her mother's outreached hand, deep in thought.

 _ **Rate? Review? Was it Garbage? Probably was garbage.**_


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